Venezuelan opposition leader arrested after anti-Maduro protest, aides say

A woman in a long-sleeved white shirt holds a hand to her chest while looking up, surrounded by a crowd

By Regina Garcia Cano and Joshua Goodman

Jan. 9, 2025 Updated 6:43 PM PT

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado’s aides said she was detained Thursday, followed moments later by official denials of her arrest, in a confusing episode that capped a day of protests seeking to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.

It remained unclear what exactly happened after Machado bid farewell to hundreds of supporters, hopped on a motorcycle and raced with her security convoy down a main Caracas avenue.

At 3:21 p.m. local time, Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces “violently intercepted” her convoy. Her aides later told the Associated Press that she had been detained, and international condemnation poured in from leaders in Latin America and beyond, demanding her release.

But about an hour later, a 20-second video of Machado emerged online in which she says she was followed after leaving the “wonderful” rally and had dropped her purse. Her aides later said in a social media post that the video message had been coerced, and that after recording it she was freed.

Late Thursday, Machado said in a post on X that she was “in a safe place and with more determination than ever” to continue her effort to get Maduro out of office. She also said that a person was shot “when the repressive forces of the regime arrested me.”

Machado, who has spent much of the last months in hiding, told supporters she will explain the day’s events in more detail Friday.

Meanwhile, Maduro’s supporters denied Machado had been detained, contending that government opponents were trying to generate an international crisis.

Earlier Thursday, Machado addressed hundreds of supporters who heeded her call to take to the streets a day before the ruling-party-controlled National Assembly was scheduled to swear in Maduro to a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election.

“They wanted us to fight each other, but Venezuela is united. We are not afraid!” Machado shouted to a few hundred demonstrators from atop a truck in the capital moments before her arrest.

Machado, 57, is a hard-line former lawmaker who stayed and challenged Maduro after many of her allies in the opposition leadership fled, joining an exodus of some 7 million Venezuelans who’ve abandoned their homeland in recent years.

Loyalists who control the country’s judiciary banned her from running against Maduro last year. In a deft move, she backed an unknown outsider — retired diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia — who crushed Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin, according to voting machine records collected by the opposition and validated by international observers.

González, invoking the title of president-elect recognized by the United States and other countries, demanded her immediate release.

“To the security forces, I warn you: don’t play with fire,” he said in a social media post from the Dominican Republic, where he met with President Luis Abinader and a delegation of former presidents from across Latin America.

President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on Machado and González’s efforts. “These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!” Trump said on social media.

There was a relatively small turnout for the protests; Venezuelans have witnessed Maduro’s security forces round up scores of opponents and bystanders since the July election.

“Of course, there are fewer people,” said empanada vendor Miguel Contrera as National Guard soldiers carrying riot shields buzzed by on motorcycles. “There’s fear.”

Demonstrators blocked a main avenue in one opposition stronghold Thursday to shouts of “Freedom! Freedom!” Many were senior citizens and dressed in red, yellow and blue, answering Machado’s call to wear the colors of the Venezuelan flag. They repudiated Maduro and said they would recognize González as Venezuela’s legitimate president.

Since the elections, the government has arrested more than 2,000 people — including as many as 10 Americans and other foreigners — who it claims have been plotting to oust Maduro and sow chaos in the oil-rich South American nation. This week alone, masked gunmen arrested a former presidential candidate, a prominent free-speech activist and González’s son-in-law as he was taking his young children to school.

“It’s an impressive show of force, but it’s also a sign of weakness,” said Javier Corrales, a Latin America expert at Amherst College and co-author of an article, “How Maduro Stole Venezuela’s Vote,” in the Journal of Democracy this month.

“Maduro is safe in office,” Corrales said, “but he and his allies recognize they are moving forward with a big lie and have no other way to justify what they are doing except by relying on the military.”

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, stacked with government loyalists, declared Maduro the winner of the election. But unlike in previous contests, authorities did not provide any access to voting records or precinct-level results.

The opposition, however, collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines and posted them online. They showed that González beat Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Experts from the United Nations and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, both invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.

The U.S. and other governments have recognized González as Venezuela’s president-elect. Even many of Maduro’s former leftist allies in Latin America plan to skip Friday’s swearing-in ceremony.

President Biden, meeting González at the White House this week, praised the retired diplomat. “The people of Venezuela deserve a peaceful transfer of power to the true winner of their presidential election,” Biden said afterward.

Cano and Goodman write for the Associated Press. Goodman reported from Miami.